Call of Duty: World at War: Treyarch Gets it Right

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Reversing the lows of COD3 with a stellar new entry.

By Patrick Kolan

Everybody wants to know one thing: is it better than Call of Duty 4? Forget that, pal – what you should really concern yourself with is –will Treyarch's World at War get it right this time? After the massive rush-job development cycle behind Call of Duty 3, Treyarch has had a full two years of development time to right the wrongs with their last game and even improve on Infinity Ward's last effort. After spending a couple of hours with the game, we're thrilled to report that things are well and good in Treyarch's hands. Follow us as we trace the biggest steps forward in Call of Duty: World at War.

It's Fresh. And Clever. I thought World War II games were supposed to be bland rehashes of the same beach-storming, bunker clearing scenarios and playing as Brits or Yanks. Well, to be fair, you will do some of that stuff – but for the first time in a long while, you'll feel like this is a relatively fresh experience.

One of COD4's greatest achievements was integrating great scripted moments and twists into tight action and giving AI troopers terrific chances to stand out and add integrity to the story. This definitely continues in World at War's campaign. Though players still jump between roles, nationalities and settings, more than ever you get the feeling of being emotionally involved in a mission. Since the game can be played with 4 players, many of the levels feature branching paths or clear 'side A / side B' routes too.

Smoke effects are a great example the small but notable steps forward Treyarch is taking. Smoke has a gameplay affecting presence in a shocking way. I had one of those are 'wow' moments when I turned a corner in the Berlin mission, Eviction, as a burning building began to fill with smoke. The hallway I was in had volumetric smoke pumping in from the rafters and, just like in real life, standing upright mean that my character and his squad of Red Star Ruskies couldn't see and couldn't breathe. In order to pass through the thick smoke, you have to crouch or wriggle forward prone-style just like in real life. That's damned clever stuff.

Wheel of Morality, Turn, Turn, Turn... Still in the grim streets of Berlin, you lead your battalion of disgruntled Russian troops on a path of destruction down a central laneway. After escorting a tank through heavy oncoming fire and taking out Nazis along the way, you come across a handful of German troops waving white flags and begging for their lives. Suddenly the game breaks out of combat and an exchange between you, your Ruskie squad and the potential prisoners of war. Your men want them dead, but they want you to make the call. Will you shoot them? Or let them live and risk being slowed down?

US peacekeeping forces participating in another act of diplomacy, civility and mutual consideration.

I made the call to let them live (Hey – I'm a nice guy, what can I say?). Suddenly, one of my troops opens fire with a flamethrower and toasts the lot of them. I was genuinely taken aback; my moral stand came to no good in the end, and indeed it actually prolonged their suffering when I could've ended things very quickly. It was an interesting and decidedly dark conundrum that I really wasn't expecting.